Peacetime activities and contributions by the U.S. Army in the United States.

Location:
United States USA Date:1934Duration:3 min 36 secSound:Yes

Scenes from Army Day on April 6, 1934. Secretary of War George Henry Dern, in broadcast to the nation about importance of the Army, in peacetime. Brief glimpses of the Yellowstone River lower falls and Old Faithful and Beehive geysers erupting in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming. View amongst log buildings in Reproduction of Army Fort Dearborn, at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. A pioneer wagon; Native American Indians in ceremonial regalia; antique locomotives and trains at the Exposition. Army General Leonard Wood being sworn in as the Governor General of the Philippines. Closeup of General of the Armies, John J. Pershing, America's highest ranking Military officer. Headquarters of Walter Reed Army hospital, in Washington, DC, named for U.S. Army Major Walter Reed, who confirmed that yellow fever is transmitted by mosquito. Acting on this, the U.S. was able to complete the Panama Canal. View of French dredging equipment sitting idle in the water after Yellow Fever prevented them from completing the canal. Closeup of U.S. Army General William C. Gorgas, who, in 1904, headed the Sanitary Department that controlled mosquitoes and eradicated Yellow Fever, so the canal could be finished. View of a cayman in swamp near the canal. Photograph of George Washington Goethals, Chief Engineer credited with making the canal happen. Explosives employed in canal construction. Earth and rocks being loaded into open rail cars. A steamship transiting the Panama Canal. The Washington Monument; U.S. Library of Congress; and the Lincoln Memorial, cited as examples of accomplishments by U.S. Army engineers. The Wilson Dam, under construction by Army engineers, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and system of levees being built to control the Mississippi River. The raging Mississippi River during 1927 flood. Flood victims being assisted by U.S. Army soldiers, at a tent camp, receiving food and clothing. An Army airplane flying over a forest fire. Army personnel supervising men in the Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC. Mail being loaded aboard an Army airplane, as airmail service is being opened between Washington DC and New York City. President Woodrow Wilson talking with Army pilot Major Reuben H. Fleet. Mail being loaded into the nose of an airplane. U.S. Army Douglas World Cruiser airplanes in flight, returning from their trip around the world in 1924. A pilot sitting in front seat of a Douglas O-38 airplane, pulls a fabric hood over his cockpit to practice "blind flying". View of the aircraft in flight, with instructor pilot in the open rear cockpit. Army aviators taking a camera and a rifle aboard their airplane as they prepare to leave on an aerial mapping flight. Aerial view of skyscrapers of Manhattan Island, New York City. Army Signal Corps personnel working on communications devices. A cable laying ship operating at sea, in support of the U.S. Army's Alaskan cable and telegraph system. Men loading chemicals into hoppers on Army crop dusting airplane. Several views of Army airplanes crop dusting. Glimpse of boll weevil, the target of their efforts. Closeup of Karl Connell, who as a major in the AEF, in World War I, invented a superior gas mask known as the “Connell” or “Victory” mask. A group of miners wearing gas masks enter a smoky mine entrance. The Army invented tear gas, which is shown being used to thwart a bank robbery, in a staged demonstration. Brigadier General Hugh Johnson, appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt, as head of the Great Depression era National Recovery Administration, or NRA, is seen about to give a speech. Narrator cites him as an example of U.S. Army officers who also serve the country in civilian life. Scene shifts to cadets on parade at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.